Age of Apocalypse

The Age of Apocalypse.

DisclaimerThis is a version of the Marvel Universe that not only re-imagines different destinies for the characters, but also shifts the entire timeline forward a couple decades. In Marvel’s canon, the core heroes and hero groups formed in the 60s. In my universe, this occurred in the 80s. This enables the existence of popular Marvel characters in modern times, but without having to explain away their old age.

In this alternate Marvel timeline, Apocalypse is the ruler of North America, and the rest of the world has suffered a devastating nuclear holocaust. Three quarters of the planet’s population perished in the horrific wars that followed Apocalypse’s rise to power, and most of its major cities have either been destroyed or heavily damaged. En Sabah Nur – Apocalypse’s real name – has brought a sickness upon the world. Where he holds sway, there is only an ugly, twisted, Darwinian dystopia. His dark presence has cleaved Earth’s population cleanly in two – mutants rule North America, while humanity huddles in Western Europe and anywhere that isn’t a radioactive wasteland.

Human and mutantkind are not only geographically separated, but there is an irreparable polarization of ideology as well. Mutants are the ruling class in America, and are overwhelmingly loyal to Apocalypse. The distrust and hatred for homo superior everywhere else is palpable. Since Apocalypse’s ascension, mutants have taken the “superior” in homo superior to heart. They ruled over humanity with brutal impunity – and as with any unchecked zealotry, it lead to atrocities, which of course led to humans fearing and hating mutants, justifiably so, on a level that far exceeds what one finds in the normal Marvel Universe.

This is an alternate universe where none of the major hero groups had a chance to form. There is no X-men, Avengers, or Fantastic Four. The freak accidents that gave lone vigilantes like Spider-Man and Daredevil their extraordinary abilities never happened. For the most part, there is only human and mutant. And the world is at the mercy of its first mutant – En Sabah Nur … Apocalypse!